1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a terminal-mounting structure configured to attach a terminal having heat-dissipating portion to a terminal-receiving portion.
2. Background of the Invention
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional terminal having a heat-dissipating portion (see Japanese design resister No. 968944), and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a terminal-mounting structure in which the terminal of FIG. 6 is used.
With reference to FIG. 6, a terminal 302 is electrically connected to a terminal or end portion of an electrical wire 303 which at least partly defines a vehicle wiring harness. The terminal 302 is provided with an elongated plate-shaped connecting portion 321, a pair of heat-dissipating portions 322 each extending perpendicularly with respect to both edges of the connecting portion 321 which are located in a width direction of the connection portion 321, a locking hole 323 which is formed through the connection portion 321, a pair of core-caulking pieces 324 configured to caulk a core wire of the electrical wire 303, and a pair of covering-caulking pieces 325 configured to caulk an insulating covering of the electrical wire 303. In this configuration, the pair of heat-dissipating portions 322 extends in the same direction.
The connecting portion 321 is electrically connected to a terminal other than an electronic part such as fusible link or the terminal 302. The pair of heat-dissipating portions 322 is configured to dissipate heat which is created by the electrical wire 303 and the terminal 302. The pair of heat-dissipating portions 322 is inwardly bent at a right angle at its middle portion. Furthermore, there is a relatively small gap or short distance K between the tips of the pair of heat-dissipating portions 322. As shown in FIG. 7, the locking hole 323 is provided for a lance 342 to be locked thereto.
Referring to FIG. 7, in the terminal-mounting structure 301 the afore-mentioned terminal 302 is coupled or attached to a terminal-receiving portion 304. Furthermore, referring to FIG. 7, the electrical wire 303 to be electrically connected to the terminal 302 is not shown. The terminal-receiving portion 304 is provided with a tube portion 341 for receiving the terminal 302 therein, the lance 342 for locking to the locking hole 323 of the terminal 302. Furthermore, the terminal-receiving portion 304 is formed in a synthetic-resin frame 307 used for a vehicle electric junction box. In this terminal-mounting structure 301, the terminal 302 is coupled to the terminal-receiving portion 304 by locking the tip portion of the lance 342 to the locking hole 323.
However, the afore-mentioned terminal-mounting structure 301 has the following problem. When the lance 342 is intended to be locked to the locking hole 323, it is generally preferable to lock the lance 342 to the locking hole 323 from the side in which the heat-dissipating portion 322 of the connecting portion 321 vertically extends rather than the case as drawn in FIG. 7 in light of decreasing inner dimension H of the tube portion 341. However, as mentioned previously, because the pair of heat-dissipating portions 322 is inwardly bent at a right angle at its middle portion, there is only a small gap (or short distance) K between tip portions of the pair of heat-dissipating portions 322. As a result, the lance 342 cannot be passed between the tip portions of the pair of heat-dissipating portions 322. For this reason, the lance 342 cannot be locked to the locking hole 323 from the side in which the heat-dissipating portion 322 of the connecting portion 321 vertically extends, and instead, cannot but be locked to the locking hole 323 from the opposite site to the above side. In this case, the inner dimension H of the tube portion 341 accordingly increases.